DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.
**Secretary-General visits World Trade Center site
The Secretary-General will visit the World Trade Center site this afternoon at 2:00 p.m., where he will be met by New York Governor George Pataki and the Mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani.
He will offer condolences and support on behalf of the international community in New York. Nationals of scores of nations are among the more than 5,000 people still missing in the tragedy.
This morning, he attended a service at Temple Emanu-el, where he said that the world had "recognized in this despicable act a common threat to shared freedoms and ideals."
"This tragedy has united us," he affirmed, "we must not let its aftermath divide us. Let us take care not to blame an entire people...for the unspeakable acts of a few individuals."
**Middle East
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, welcomed as significant a statement made today by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to a gathering of diplomats in Gaza, in which he said he had reiterated orders to secure a Palestinian ceasefire on all fronts, and to exercise maximum self-restraint in the face of any attacks.
Arafat added that Palestinians and Israelis have to work together to break the vicious cycle of violence, and stated his readiness to sit down to negotiate peace.
Larsen was also informed that Israel, following that message, had announced that it would cease all offensive military operations.
He praised today's developments, which he saw as a sign that the intensive diplomatic efforts by the nations of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations are starting to bear fruit.
Larsen called for today's words by both sides to be followed by actions, including the resumption of security cooperation efforts between the Israelis and the Palestinians, followed by a resumption of political talks, starting with those planned to take place between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
**Koreas
We have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of the talks between the two Koreas:
"The Secretary-General welcomes the resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue. He is particularly glad that the ministerial talks between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, held in Seoul from the 15th to the 18th of September, agreed to continue the exchange visits between separated families, as well as to undertake practical steps in economic and other fields.
“Encouraged by the renewed commitment of both parties to the Joint Declaration that was signed by their two leaders on the 15th June of last year, the Secretary-General urges the parties to persevere with its full implementation, including the dialogue at the highest level."
**Security Council
The Security Council has a full day of activities today. At 10:30 this morning they started consultations. Council members were first briefed by the Chief of Security and Safety Service, Michael McCann, on the impact of last Tuesday’s terrorist attack on security at United Nations Headquarters. Chief McCann also distributed to Council members pocket cards with the "Ten points for high rise fire safety.”
It looks like this (holding up card). These cards are being distributed to UN staff on a floor-by-floor basis, following meetings and drills with security personnel.
Following that, Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC, the United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq, introduced the Commission’s latest report which, as you will recall, came out earlier this month. In its conclusion, the report states that the Commission is prepared to implement its mandate in “an independent, effective and non-provocative manner.”
In the afternoon, starting at 3:30, Council members will hold consultations on Afghanistan. Kieran Prendergast, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, will brief.
And after that discussion, Council members will hold two formal meetings. In the first one, on Sierra Leone, the Council will vote on a resolution to extend the mandate of the Mission in that country for a period of six months to the 30th of September.
The second formal meeting is to adopt the annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly. This report, as you know, goes from mid-year last year to mid-year 2001. It lists all communications received by the Security Council during this period and makes an assessment of Council activities on a monthly basis.
**Afghanistan
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that people continue to leave major cities in Afghanistan.
UNHCR says some 5,000 Afghans are reportedly massing at a border crossing near Pakistan’s provincial capital of Quetta. The refugee agency is negotiating with the Pakistani authorities and hopes the people will be allowed to cross the border. It says 2,000 tents have been sent to Quetta as an emergency measure.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) says it has enough food left in Afghanistan for two to three weeks only.
**Landmines
Today in Managua, Nicaragua, the States that are party to the Mine-Ban Convention are holding their third meeting, and the Secretary-General, in a message to that meeting, says that after last week's attack on the United States, "Never has there been a greater need for the world to show unity and purpose against the forces of violence and destruction."
In his message, which was delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, the Secretary-General notes that 120 countries have either ratified the Convention banning anti-personnel mines or are in the process of doing so, and he urges all other countries to join the treaty as soon as possible.
He adds that the United Nations is currently developing a five-year mine action strategy to identify the goals that still need to be achieved, including an international instrument to deal with the problem of unexploded ordnances.
We have copies of the full message in my Office.
**East Timor
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today handed over the Constitutional Commission reports to the new Constituent Assembly.
The reports from each of East Timor’s districts contain input from some 38,000 East Timorese citizens on what they would like to be considered by the Constituent Assembly when it drafts a Constitution.
Some of the topics in the reports include the Timorese people’s views on the system of government, the head of State, taxation, investment, language, defence and security, currency, and human rights.
More details on this are available in the Briefing Notes from Dili.
**Iraq
On Iraq, the issue of pricing mechanisms for Iraqi crude oil deliveries to the United States market in September has remained unresolved. The Security Council is scheduled to take up this issue this coming Thursday.
The weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme shows that at the average rate of 1.9 million barrels per day, Iraq exported a total of 13.6 million barrels of oil in the week from the 8th to the 14th of September, under the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
The value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Council’s 661 Sanctions Committee rose further to just over $4 billion, covering 1,529 contracts.
We have the full report in my Office.
**Prevlaka
The Secretary-General, in a letter to the President of the Security Council that is out on the racks today, says that Colonel Graeme Williams ended his tour of duty as the United Nations Chief Military Observer on the Prevlaka peninsula, located between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the 15th of September. He has appointed Colonel Rodolfo Sergio Mujica of Argentina to be the next Chief Military Observer and the head of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka.
**Press Releases
In press releases today, one from the World Health Organization (WHO) announces that the composition of the 2002 southern hemisphere flu vaccine has been decided. The vaccine is intended for use in the southern hemisphere for the May to October 2002 flu season. The flu season in the northern hemisphere is about to begin, and many countries have already begun advertising vaccination campaigns. About 200 million doses of the flu vaccine are produced and given globally each year.
And then in a second press release out of Geneva, the World Health Organization said the epidemic of yellow fever in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is continuing but it has not yet started to accelerate.
**French President Jacques Chirac
Press conference tomorrow, 3:00 p.m. in this room -- no, I'm not sure about this. We've scheduled President Jacques Chirac of France in this room for 3:00. He'll be having lunch with the Secretary-General at the residence and we're considering holding the press conference at the residence. So I'll have to give you an update on this announcement.
(The Spokesman's Office later announced that the Secretary-General and French President Jacques Chirac would hold a joint press conference tomorrow afternoon in Room 226 at 3:30.)
**Dag Hammarskjöld
Finally, today is the fortieth anniversary of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in 1961 while on a mission concerning the Congo. To mark this anniversary, the United Nations Postal Administration today is issuing three stamps, one in each of the currencies of the Postal Administration, which look like this (holding up picture of the stamps).
Also to mark the anniversary, the United Nations headquarters library, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, is launching a Web site honouring the late Secretary-General’s service to the Organization. The site features a year-by-year narrative of events and of the Secretary-General’s legacy, and includes photographs, video and audio clips and transcripts from the Library’s Oral History Project. So that's what the new homepage looks like (holding up copy of the homepage).
And we have a press release with more information on the Web site which is on the racks. And we also have a limited number of colour bookmarks featuring these stamps.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Fred, unlike during the Gulf War, we don't seem to be seeing any move at all to have any of this coalition-building through the United Nations or seeking the approbation of the United Nations -– barely any involvement of the United Nations at all. What's the Secretary-General's reaction to that? Is he moving to try and have, as we saw through the Gulf War, this coalition-building through the United Nations? What's the reaction of the United Nations in general to this?
Spokesman: Have you looked at the resolutions adopted by the Security Council?
Question: The Americans are building their coalition.
Spokesman: You ask what the United Nations is doing. There was an immediate response by the Security Council. With a very strong endorsement. We're dealing with terrorism, and if you just look at the wording particularly of the Security Council resolution, I think you'll see a very strong document.
That resolution is under-reported and I think when the dust settles and you start looking at the text I think you'll begin to get a sense of its significance. Now it's not the Secretary-General's job to start forming military coalitions. And I've said several times this week that his message, including the one that I quoted from Temple Emanu-el today, continues to be a moral one.
Question: The Americans are not going to come to the United Nations at all.
Spokesman: How do you know that? You can't prejudge that.
Question: There are a large number of Afghans stranded outside the border of Iran. Is the United Nations going to give them some support, to feed them at least?
Spokesman: Not just Iran, but also Pakistan, as I reported today. The High Commissioner for Refugees has, as I've already said, sent two thousand tents to Quetta. And I don't particularly know the details of what they're doing for those that might be on the Iranian border, but I assume they're providing whatever support they can, while they try to negotiate safe passage into exile for these people.
Question: Fred, with the new influx of these Afghan refugees into Pakistan, what kind of cooperation can we expect from the United Nations and the international community? You know, to look after them, because Pakistan is already heavily burdened with the refugee problem for so many decades.
Spokesman: The Pakistan Government has been exceedingly generous over the years, as you've just indicated, in accepting huge numbers of Afghan refugees. We have been trying, in the last six months or so, to encourage some of these refugees to go back to Afghanistan to camps, facilities, set up in safe areas, and for those who come from parts of Afghanistan that UNHCR would consider secure to arrange for their repatriation. And that was as a result of an agreement worked out with the Government of Pakistan for a screening process.
Now we have a new emergency and there's a new flood of refugees coming to the border. I'm sure UNHCR will continue to work with the Governments of Pakistan and Iran for an orderly processing of these individuals, which includes screening, to determine whether they can be given refugee status, and if so, resettling them in those countries or even to third countries. That's the standard UNHCR procedure.
Question: Do you foresee the Secretary-General making any appeal to the donors, you know, to come out and help in their rehabilitation?
Spokesman: He certainly will endorse whatever appeal UNHCR makes for emergency assistance.
Question: About the briefing from Mr. Prendergast today. What exactly is he going to be briefing about, since there's not much of a political process here?
Spokesman: As Director of Political Affairs, he'll be talking to them about what the United Nations knows of the political situation in Afghanistan. I can't give you any specifics. I assume it would be the most up-to-date briefing possible.
Question: What is the result of the meeting by the President of the General Assembly and the Main Committees on rescheduling?
Spokesman: I think Jan Fischer will tell you about the General Assembly in just a minute.
Question: Prime Minister Tony Blair is coming to the United States. Is he coming to visit the United Nations? Can we have a press conference?
Spokesman: We don't know yet. He will be in New York, as I understand, and the Government has been in touch with the Secretary-General's office to try to arrange a meeting. But he will be in New York I think only briefly, so I don't know where that meeting will take place, whether it will even take place here at Headquarters, so I have nothing to announce yet. But as soon as we get those details, we'll get them to you. I don't think it will allow time for a press conference here at United Nations Headquarters. But we'll ask anyway.
**Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly
Good afternoon.
In his capacity as Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Han Seung-soo is in Washington for talks with senior United States officials. This is a previously scheduled meeting –- it's not something that's anything to do with the events of last Tuesday.
At 10 this morning, the President’s Chef de Cabinet met with the Chairpersons of the regional groups. In this connection I have a statement from the President’s office, which will also be available upstairs afterwards:
"The President of the General Assembly has consulted the Chairmen of the regional groups today and it was understood that the general debate, which is scheduled to take place from Monday, the twenty-fourth of September to Friday, the fifth of October 2001, will be rescheduled to future dates. The new dates for the general debate will be announced as soon as possible in close consultations with the Host-country and Member States."
Regarding the Secretary-General's report on the work of the Organization, the statement says that, in view of the rescheduling of the general debate to future dates, the President intends to propose to the General Assembly at its meeting to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, 19 of September, that it should begin consideration of item 10, namely the Secretary-General’s report, as the first item on its agenda on 24 September. That's next Monday.
About the Main Committees:
"The Chairmen and the Secretaries of the Main Committees are currently reorganizing their schedule of work in order to be able to start their work earlier. Some main Committees may start their work as early as next week."
Quite a few of you have asked if the opening of the General Assembly has ever been delayed and if the general debate has ever been postponed or rescheduled. Thanks to some diligent research by Ms. St. John in Fred's office and by colleagues in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, I have some answers to those questions.
In 1964, the nineteenth session of the General Assembly was delayed until 1 December. So, we have a precedent for a delayed opening of the General Assembly. But the general debate has, as far as we have been able to determine, never been postponed or rescheduled.
Are there any questions regarding the things I've just said? As I said, the statement is available upstairs.
Question: When they're talking about the Committees reorganizing, starting early, will all that information be coming to you, or do we need to be checking with each of the six Committees.
Spokesperson for the President: I will try to keep you up-to-date on that one. I know that the paperwork and the documentation for some of the Committees are more or less ready and we will be working very hard at completing that work, so that those Committees can start. I think it's, in particular, Committees two, four and six that can start relatively early and, as the statement said, possibly as early as next week. Committees one and five -- it'll take some time.
Question: I can't think of what happened in '64 for the delay.
Spokesman: Since the briefing has gone on for a long time already, I cut it a bit short. The reasoning given at that time was that about half of the membership was going to be represented at the Second Conference of Heads of State and Government of the non-aligned countries and that was scheduled for October. The Secretary-General then conveyed the wish of those countries that would be at that meeting to the general membership and he suggested another starting date, which was 10 November.
As they got closer to that date, a large number of countries requested a further postponement and said that, well, it was evident this would serve the best interest of the United Nations and ensure more constructive contributions by Member States. So, the Secretary-General again consulted all Member States and it was finally decided to open the nineteenth session on 1 December.
Question: The original schedule was that the Preparatory Committee for the International Criminal Court and States Parties for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty were both also supposed to be meeting next week. Are those two meetings still on?
Spokesman: That's still up in the air. The regional groups are looking at all of the implications of rescheduling. There are other meetings going on around the world, such as the Commonwealth meeting, the APEC meeting, the ASEAN meeting and so on. Although the General Assembly is expected to decide tomorrow to reschedule, I don't think we'll have a date tomorrow.
Question: The test-ban meeting will still be going on?
Spokesman: That will be settled either tomorrow or in the coming days. There's a lot of talk about the things that are already on the agenda, whether they should be pushed forward or back and so on. The Secretariat and the General Assembly President's Office and the Member States – they are basically looking at all the work we have to do during this session and they are trying to find a way of getting as much done as possible.
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